Hi there!
Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.
Today, we're teaming up with TLC Book Tours and Montlake for a bit of BOOK BUZZ featuring an upcoming release from author Mariah Stewart! Slated to hit bookstore and virtual shelves this May, it's a perfect way to wile away a summer's day, or a great follow up to a sunny afternoon spent in the great outdoors...in other words, a perfect fit for the reading season. As for me, I read a good portion of this one outside, while enjoying the unseasonably cool weather...but when combined with the gorgeous sunshine, it was too good to miss. So, find your favorite reading spot, and prepare to indulge as we take a look between the pages of today's blog tour guest and book of choice...
by
Mariah Stewart
9781542025362
Montlake
About the book...
It was a lifetime ago that recently widowed Maggie Flynn was in Wyndham Beach. Now, on the occasion of her fortieth high school reunion, she returns to her hometown on the Massachusetts coast, picking up right where she left off with dear friends Lydia and Emma. But seeing Brett Crawford again stirs other emotions. Once, they were the town’s golden couple destined for one another. He shared Maggie’s dreams—and eventually, a shattering secret that drove them apart.
Buying her old family home and resettling in Wyndham Beach means a chance to start over for Maggie and her two daughters, but it also means facing her rekindled feelings for her first love and finally confronting—and embracing—the past in ways she never thought possible. Maggie won’t be alone. With her family and friends around her, she can weather this stormy turning point in her life and open her heart to the future. As for that dream shared and lost years ago? If Maggie can forgive herself, it still might come true.
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OH my.
This book was simply GORGEOUS! It took its time and meandered through a lifetime of memories and choices, circling back to the things that are truly important...like family. It didn't have a driving plot that demanded to be chased, but I was MORE than happy to let things unfold naturally. Each of the character's we're introduced to leave a mark on your heart. The love that was both lost and found is enough to turn the biggest skeptic on to the idea of everything happening for a reason, and in its own time.
Maggie, Emma, and Lindy have been friends since their teen years, and now as they fully embody their late fifties, they are closer than ever. Time is a dance we all must entertain, but how we accept it, kicking and screaming all the way or with grace, understanding, and an open heart, is entirely up to us. I do believe these ladies did a little of both in their day, but they are so much stronger than any of them imagine. How could they be anything but with everything they've faced? Maggie's secret from yesteryear, her husband's passing, and her daughter's lives uprooted in various ways. I gotta say I LOVED her character, but I adored how she handled Grace's public situation. It was simply perfect, right down to the tiny white lie she freely stated. Emma lost her husband, and her son, though neither in the same way, and some with more permanence. She still managed to pull her friends up when they were down, and help Liddy find the grace of the circumstances with Jessica. Also, she raised a rather fine son (in several ways!), who is most definitely a product of her motherly tutelage. Liddy lost a daughter, a husband, and a bit of her self...but with her true friends by her side she was never truly alone. I was so happy to see her heart breaking loose of some of the sadness, and I truly believe her new business project is going to make a big difference in keeping her from falling back on despair.
All in all, it was a wonderful cast of characters with varied lives that are intriguing, heartbreaking, and uplifting in equal parts. It just goes to show that whether we find, make, or are born into "our tribe", those connections we forge, those bonds we make can follow us throughout our days, if only we let them...if only we believe in those waves of the same sea.
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About the author...
Mariah Stewart is the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestselling author of several series, including The Chesapeake Diaries and The Hudson Sisters, as well as stand-alone novels, novellas, and short stories. A native of Hightstown, New Jersey, she lives with her husband and two rambunctious rescue dogs amid the rolling hills of Chester County, Pennsylvania, where she savors country life, tends her gardens, and works on her next novel. She’s the proud mama of two fabulous daughters who—along with her equally fabulous sons-in-law—have gifted her with six adorable (and yes, fabulous) granddarlings.
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Special thanks to Lisa at TLC Book Tours for the chance to bring this tour to you and to the Montlake team for the ARC for review. (THANKS!) For more information on this title, the author, the publisher, this tour, or those on the horizon, feel free to click through the links provided above. This title celebrates its BOOK BIRTHDAY May 1, 2021 via Montlake, an imprint of Amazon Publishing, so mark your calendar or click on over to your favorite online retailer to preorder your copy today! Be sure to CHECK OUT THE REST OF THE TOUR making its way through the blogosphere for more bookish fun!
Until next time, remember...if it looks good, READ IT!
What sounds like a wonderful summer read with a memorable cast of characters.
ReplyDeleteMariah Stewart is one of my go-to's! Thank you for being on this tour! Sara @ TLC Book Tours
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